Christie enjoyed just lying in bed and lazing around. But, of course, a key factor of that enjoyment was that Agatha was in bed with her.

  “Am I not hurting you?” Her ladylove asked with a hint of worry.

  “Not at all,” Christie put down her book and caressed Agatha’s cheek with the back of her hand.

  “Really? I would have thought it would hurt having one’s breasts used as pillows,” the blonde slightly nudged the back of her head, even more slightly digging deeper in the valley between the bosoms.

  “Most of your weight is on my stomach,” the redhead giggled and lowered her hand, now drawing circles in her ladylove’s neck. “And either way, you are really light. Maybe half of me.” Though, for some reason, half of your weight is in that head of yours. Of course, Christie kept those words to herself. She was a good girlfriend, after all.

  “That much?” Agatha inclined her head backwards, allowing Christie to see her squinting.

  “I mean, you are the shortest student in our class. And I am the tallest. There is bound to be some significant dissonance.”

  “Hmm…” The petite girl hummed deep in thought. “It is weird. I normally hate feeling small, but when I am with you, I do not care at all. If anything… I welcome it.”

  “Hmm~” The tall girl lurched her head forward and hummed, only that more… melodiously. “It makes me happy hearing that.”

  “Why?” Agatha nuzzled against her face. “Because it makes you tall?”

  “No,” Christie nuzzled back. “Because I would not like to make you feel small.” Then landed a peck on her ladylove’s cheek.

  “Oh…” She grunted softly. Then blushed. A lot. “How do you always know the right words?”

  “I have been raised to know them,” the redhead lowered her hand even more, down and down until they reached the blonde’s waist and circumscribed it with her clasped arms. “But it is an active effort to make use of them. An effort which, unfortunately, I sometimes fail at.”

  “No one can be perfect, eh?” Agatha scoffed amusedly.

  “And talking about perfection. How are you faring with the peridotite, mock sapphire?” Christie’s eyes were directed to the jagged rock between her ladylove’s arms.

  “Not well…” She sighed. “Teacher Dago has told me that I should focus on lithorica, especially now that I double the Strata of most classmates again, but I do want to get lapiloquia to work.”

  “So do I, so do I,” the green-and-red-eyed girl tightened her arms around the sapphire-eyed girl. “But perhaps he was right there. I have been asking around and reading, and apparently, most students only get lapiloquia by the fourth year. Some very unfortunate ones do not even unlock it by the time graduation arrives.”

  “If that was an effort to make me let go of it, you have failed at it. You have only fueled my ceaseless anxiety.”

  “How can a body so petite store so much anxiety?” Christie asked playfully, and, with her gestures, she was clear to her ladylove that she was being playful. She was walking on coals as of late; Agatha might have apologized for her outburst at the start of the year, but Christie still didn’t want to see one. Ever again.

  “How can a body so lithe store so many agates?” The blonde countered.

  “Fair enough,” she smiled in satisfaction and partially released her ladylove. Only because she wanted to pass her fingers through her silky and electrum hair. Shampoo has done wonders for her… Though I guess having short hair also influences that.

  They continued dilly-dallying on the bed for a while, exchanging more than a caress here and there, but Christie now found herself unable to get back to her current reading. Not because of anything Agatha had said, but because she had reached a… raunchy chapter. Oh my… She blushed from the first paragraph alone and was forced to put the book down.

  This was one of the new books from Miss Diorite's private collection that she had been gifted, and whilst it certainly wasn’t the first time Christie had read one of them this year, it was certainly the first time she had done so with Agatha near her. Or rather, sitting right on top of her. The redhead felt the petite girl’s bottom rub on her thighs as she moved in discomfort from being unable to pry the secrets of the osmium mineral. Yet more pressingly, what affected Christie the most was how her ladylove’s head pressed against her breasts. It wasn’t pain that she was feeling, but she was definitely feeling something.

  Agatha gladly treated her chest as a pillow, but that only made Christie think more about what she had just read in that novel. I can now say, with perfect confidence, why Miss Diorite did not react badly to our mutual confession, and in any case, seemed to be happy about it. I certainly did not expect the old maid to be so… thoroughly interested in this type of romance. Who… who would have thought that women could do such things with each other… Just thinking about that lone paragraph was making Christie’s heartbeat and body heat rise.

  This new collection of novels was far too much for her, so she hadn’t dared to let Agatha get near them yet lest her ladylove faint from overstimulation.

  “Maybe we should head out,” Christie said suddenly, her desire to breathe fresh air growing exponentially with each passing second.

  “How come?” Agatha turned her head to look at her, yet the gesture made the redhead’s brassiere rub and be moved in a very perilous manner, even if the blonde couldn’t see underneath the dress. “Were we not just going to laze around because you were feeling under the weather?”

  “Er…” The tall girl did her best to contain her growing heat. “I still am, my stomach is killing me, honestly…”

  “I can stand up!” Her ladylove instantly offered and raised her torso, decupling from her.

  Christie giggled. “You know very well it is not that type of pain I am feeling. But a bit of fresh air would do me well. And perhaps a sweet or two will help with the colics.”

  “Well,” Agatha jumped out of her prone position with legs alone, did a completely unnecessary flip midair, and landed atop the mattress. “We can definitely do that. A date sounds lovely.”

  “I… I am more concerned about how you can just do those acrobatics,” the nouveau riche said baffled, practically appalled.

  The villager shrugged. “I just do,” and then proceeded to walk behind the wooden curtains to get changed.

  It amazed Christie how her girlfriend was still rather evasive on nakedness, yet she had no problem whatsoever burrowing her head in her chest. The redhead got herself changed, though not before washing herself with a towel in the bathroom. She would have even bathed if she had the chance, but alas, there wasn’t time. For her attire, Christie chose a more casual outfit that she had gotten from the onslaught of tailors that had heeded the call to the Valasela Estate. A simple but stylish set composed of a blouse, a leather corset, and a long red skirt with floral embroidery.

  She had thought her outfit would be the most highlightable one – especially as it made her bosom look even plumper than usual with how tight the corset blouse adhered to her skin – but she was proven wrong when Agatha revealed her own.

  “Ta-da~” Her ladylove burst out whimsically from behind the curtains and the redhead couldn’t help but be agape at the sight.

  The attire in question was a patchwork overall where a decent percentage of the fabric was lace and also had long flaps hanging from behind. The leg section was rather short and looking like pantaloons, both short and inflated, and the sleeves were a mismatched yet welcoming mess. One had embroideries similar to the pantaloons, whilst the other had lace patterns that looked similar to the band patterns of agate. Though one could argue for sea waves due to their blue colors. It wasn’t an eye-catching outfit – at least in the erotic sense – by any means, but that didn’t make it less lovely.

  “That is certainly a reaction,” Agatha mused happily as Christie failed to respond. “But I would like an honest opinion,” the petite girl twirled, the flaps lagging behind. “What are you thinking?”

  “It is… I do not know how to put it into words; I am just astonished.”

  “So much for a wordsmith,” her ladylove teased her. “Where has your speechcraft gone?”

  “Somewhere far away…” The tall girl added weakly, an arm pressed against her chest.

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  There was only one way to describe that outfit, and the epithet was: Agatha. Every single thread of the overall screamed Agatha, both in composition and in beauty. Every other person in the world would look poorly on that attire, yet her ladylove shone radiantly, more than any polished gemstone when it was she who wore it.

  “Glad to hear I have that effect on you, but I still really would like to have an opinion. It is not like I have the liberty to make outfits in secret like this all the time.”

  “It is cute,” Christie said, but promptly realized that those words weren’t just enough. Not even an infinitesimal fraction of what she actually thought. “You are cute. Though I doubt you would like to hear that because anything you wear instantly becomes cute.”

  Suddenly, it was really hard to put thoughts into words. Agatha had just that effect on her, and this was the most Agatha that had ever been. An apex example.

  Agatha blushed at those words. “I… I do like to hear that, but I would prefer to hear about the outfit…” She sheepishly rubbed the agate hanging on her neck.

  The gesture filled Christie with uncountable satisfaction. Though it made her think how that sapphire was only a fifth of the real one. After having ascended to the Fourth Stratum, Agatha’s agate had become so massive that it weighed more than a kilogram, forcing the petite girl to give it Amplify Duplicate to lessen the load on her neck. Now on the Fourth Stratum, the perfect sphere got split into five lesser stones, which individually were still bigger than her original little sapphire, forcing her ladylove to then give one of them Control Compact.

  The girl before her had to use four commands simultaneously every waking moment just to wear her favorite necklace, and she was doing all of that without showing any sign of a headache. I guess we will not have to wait long for her to reach the Fifth Stratum with all that effort. Christie was used to using all her available commands slots every single moment of her life – waking or otherwise – but there was a massive difference with each passing Stratum. Or so she had been told. Though I guess she does switch the four-command series out here and there beyond sleeping.

  She quickly snapped out of her lithic trance, only to be reeled in by a romantic trance. It was very hard to come up with words that weren’t overwhelmingly teasing. Like, supremely hard. Christie was squirming as a byproduct of keeping her wording modest.

  “It is a lovely outfit, mock sapphire. Only you could have made it, and I say that as the greatest of compliments,” Christie stepped forward and embraced her ladylove, only to let out a whisper. “I love it~”

  Agatha jumped out of the embrace. “I see!” She giggled nervously. “Well, should we not get going? We would not like our date to get cut short because the sun has set, would we?”

  “Of course,” Christie giggled, but playfully. It truly was a megalithic effort not to tease her ladylove every waking moment.

  ***

  The problem with having a date at Knight’s Ascent – technically the first one – was that Christie couldn’t hold her ladylove’s hand as they walked down the streets. Well, we definitely could, but that would look weird, would it? Well… Girl friends do hold their hands from time to time, do they not? Ugh… The redhead squirmed once again, though now her suffering had insufflated a more mental type of agony. I want to hold her hand. I really want to hold her hand. I really, really want to hold her hand!

  Christie kept thinking that as Agatha strolled a step in front of her the whole time, her small and soft hands swaying happily. The more time passed, the smaller her ladylove was. At least to Christie. She was growing taller, but Agatha wasn’t. Every passing day, she was becoming more and more adorable with her diminutive size. Oh, fractures, I do not think handholding will be enough at this point. She wanted to hug her, embrace her as if the blonde was just the fluffiest stuffed toy in the world.

  “Are you well, Christie?” Agatha suddenly said as she turned her back and walked backwards.

  “How come that question?” The nouveau riche voiced out with complete serenity. Just like her sea of stones, her facial muscles were as if commanded by Sleep.

  “Well, you are breathing a bit heavily, so maybe I thought the fresh air did not sit all that well with you.”

  “Oh, no. Not at all,” she smiled softly. “But perhaps it is just the exercise. You know, sometimes it hits harder, and as we are not having as many morning runs this year, I think I am not as used to moving when my insides decide to take a tour to the outsides.” She had the feeling that her mortality was influencing her as it did hurt more today, but overall, that was just a small fraction of the issue. Christie just wanted to shower Agatha with love – lots of love – but she knew her ladylove wasn’t ready for that. She had to be the perfect girlfriend, after all.

  And it certainly didn’t help that, because they were in public, she now couldn’t even drizzle her shows of affection. I should have thought this better before offering a walking date, she grunted mentally.

  “Do you want to sit down?” Agatha pointed at a bench with her head. The only issue was that the bench was directly behind her and she had never looked at it.

  “Uh… How are you doing that?” Christie blinked in confusion.

  “Doing what?”

  “Pointing at a bench you could have never seen and walking backwards with this much aloofness.”

  “Oh!” Her ladylove chuckled radiantly and twirled around. She now walked forward and pointed at her back, right where the flaps of her overalls met. There was a small agate held by a ribbon. “I have the Watch command on this little girl. I am trying to get used to a lot of commands in both types of quantity: simultaneous and different commands. Watch is really useful, having eyes in the back is… eye-opening. Sorry for the quip, it is literally that. And, er… sorry for rambling, let us get you a seat first.”

  “No problem, mock sapphire,” Christie smiled at her, especially knowing that she could see her even with her back turned. Oh depths! She now realized. She can see me with her back turned! I have not done anything weird when I thought she was not watching, have I? The redhead now felt undiluted paranoia flow through her veins. Though a part of her also blushed because she had been so focused on her ladylove’s swaying hand that she had never noticed the ribbon and the agate.

  Agatha escorted her to a bench, and because they were near the market, the blonde excused herself for a moment and rushed to get a treat from one of the many stalls. Christie took this solitary moment to take a deep breath and relax. She loved her ladylove so much that it was hurting her, but she had no problem with that. It is fine if I am the one hurt, but I cannot allow myself to hurt her. I cannot be like dearest father. He locked me in a mansion for a decade and a half to protect me, only for me to wither. I need to… not enclose on her.

  The situation wasn’t quite the same, and Christie was aware of it, but she could also see it devolve into that if she didn’t watch out. Didn’t watch out for herself.

  Her ladylove came back a couple of minutes later with breadsticks and jam in hand.

  “Jam?” Christie raised a brow.

  “It was the sweetest thing I could find,” Agatha responded after opening the jar and dipping a breadstick in the strawberry jam. “Here. Say ‘ah~’.”

  The redhead partially blushed as her girlfriend put an oozing stick on her lips. I guess I should allow her to have some fun too… Christie thought as she wasn’t as prone to embarrassment as her ladylove. Especially not as of late.

  “Ah~” She melodiously said and the blonde slowly pushed the stick inside. Once Christie felt the jam hit her tongue, she bit on the rod and chewed on the tip. “Mmm~ It is a good jam.”

  “I hope so,” the overall-wearing girl snorted. “It was more expensive than a whole week of food when I lived at Malachite.”

  “We could do better then,” Christie chuckled as she grabbed a breadstick and dipped it in the jam jar. She then approached it on her ladylove’s mouth. “How about a whole month's worth of food for a jar?”

  Agatha frowned. “It is your money, but did I not teach you about the importance of money?”

  “You did, you did,” the redhead moved the jam breadstick in circles, the blonde following it with her eyes, but not yet reaching for it. “But I was just jesting. Alas, it seems my humor is bitter rather than sweet like this jam.” She moved the breadstick faster.

  “It probably is due to Teacher Dago, his crass sense of humor has contaminated us,” the villager continued to not addressing the breadstick in front of her face.

  Which inevitably made the nouveau riche reach the limits of her patience. “Quakes and faults, Agatha! Do I need it to shove it in your face?”

  Agatha didn’t respond; instead, she chose to look away and down at the cobblestone. “I cannot do it…” She said weakly.

  That got a sigh out of the redhead. “Why not, mock sapphire?” Christie inquired softly, her hand caressing her ladylove’s.

  The blonde blushed and muttered something weakly. So weak, in fact, that Christie failed to get a word out of it.

  “What? I have not understood you.”

  Her ladylove raised her head, pouted, blushed even harder, bit her lips, and then took a deep breath. All of that in quick succession. “I just said that… it is too embarrassing…”

  “You just did the same thing to me, why should it be embarrassing when I do it to you?” As a sign of good faith, Christie ate the breadstick she nearly shoved on Agatha’s face. The sugar was already helping her feel a bit less… chained. Though that didn’t stop her from grabbing another breadstick and pointing at her ladylove with it.

  “I… uhm… it just is!” Agatha pouted adorably. Ah, my blonde and small squirrel.

  “Talk about double standards,” Christie snorted. “So you can feed me breadsticks, but I cannot feed you?”

  “Y-yes,” the sciurine girl nodded frantically.

  The redhead closed onto her, lying mostly on the bench back so it looked like she was resting rather than approaching her ladylove, and whispered to the blonde’s ear.

  “You are in luck we are in public, mock sapphire. Otherwise, I might have shoved this oozing rod into that petite mouth of yours.” Christie purposely used the most suggestive language she could muster, which was trivially easy thanks to all of those steamy romance novels that Miss Diorite had given her.

  Her ladylove yelped silently and blushed hard. Only now the weight of the words she had used had hit Christie, but thankfully, it would appear that she hadn’t crossed the line between flirtation and harassment, for Agatha just remained there, watching with a glint in her eyes that could only be interpreted as the utmost pure definition of yearning.

  Ah, Christie felt a shock traverse her whole body. Now she was thankful they were in the middle of the street, or she might assault her ladylove even against her promise of taking things slowly. Sometimes it is good that the double-edged sword wounds its wielder.

  Christie coughed and straightened her back to stop herself from committing a big mistake. This also seemed to alert Agatha as she blinked several times and slightly moved backward as she avoided the redhead’s gaze, her thin arms pressed against her chest. She snatched a breadstick from the basket, not even bothering to dip it in jam.

  “We should finish these snacks,” Christie said, though a hotness was creeping in her visage.

  “Y-yes, we should,” Agatha’s voice trembled as much as her hand as she also reached for a breadstick. She gnawed on it like a squirrel.

  Christie was wholeheartedly aware that she had gone too far today, but seeing how her ladylove hadn’t pushed her away but instead looked eager to reciprocate was a massive step forward. I must wait, I must wait, she whispered to herself as they slowly ate the snacks in silent yet fulfilling company, telling herself that the moment where she had to forcefully contain her love would be over soon. But no matter how many times she repeated that mantra, it was always ‘must’ and never ‘can’.

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